The double referendum in Ireland on redefining family and the role of women in the constitution has been defeated, said Prime Minister Leo Varadkar on Saturday.
The government supported proposed amendments to expand the definition of family and clarify women’s duties in society.
“I think at this stage it’s clear that the referendums on the family amendment and the care amendment have been defeated,” Varadkar said at a press conference in Dublin.
This was the latest attempt, on International Women’s Day, to demonstrate Ireland’s changed face, as a member of the European Union (EU), and to weaken the influence of the once-dominant Catholic Church.
But by 1 p.m. Central European Time, it was clear that the majority of voters had said “no” to two questions about care and family.
Varadkar said the referendums were “comprehensively defeated with a respectable turnout.”
“Our responsibility was to convince the majority of people to vote ‘yes’, but obviously we didn’t succeed,” he said.
“I think we found it difficult to convince people of the necessity or need for a referendum, let alone the details of the formulation,” he said, adding that “this is obviously something we will have to think about in the weeks and months to come.”
Two proposals – dubbed the family amendment and the care amendment – aimed to change the text of Article 41 of the Irish Constitution, written in 1937.
The first sought to expand the definition of family from those based on marriage to “permanent relationships” such as unmarried couples and their children.
The second proposed replacing old-fashioned language about a mother’s “duties in the home” with a provision recognizing the care that family members provide to each other.
The country of 5.3 million people opted to lift constitutional restrictions on same-sex marriage in 2015 and on abortion in 2018.
All major political parties supported the so-called “double yes,” and until recently the polls predicted that both referendum questions would pass without any problems.
But campaigners for the “no” side argued that the concept of “permanent relationships” was undefined and confusing and that women and mothers were being invalidated.
Meanwhile, ultra-conservatives claimed that the changes could constitutionally protect polygamous relationships and increase immigration through family reunification of migrants – claims the government vehemently denied.
Nearly 3.5 million people were eligible to vote, N1 writes.
Photo ©️ Rethink Ireland
E.Dz.
